Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1887-08-12
Oriental Scintillations.

! But three Europeans have ever Wis
tied Mecca.
At one time Palestine had $500 ,OO(
inhabitants.
Persian girls are the finest lookinl
in the world.
The Jewish population is estimated
atA 100000.
There are no places of amusemen,
in Jerusalem.
There is no drunkenness am ong the
MOhammedans.
| Wad-elWard's father is still alive
and Ill years of age.
Hogs and dogs are the scavengers
and they make good ones.
When dates are high in Suez they
sell at As pounds for % cents.
There are 10000 students in the
Mohammedan university at Cairo.
Should man get drunk in Palestine
and fall down he is stoned to death.
Jerusalem has population of S5,-
600 with no printing press and no ice.
Oranges sell ten for cent, and very
large ones at that, measuring 25 inches
in circumference.
A Jewish woman kisses the hand of
her husband when she receives any,
thing from him.
The United States have better insti-
tutions of learning than any other
country in the world.
The head of an ass, as used in the
Bible, means a mans hat, and not the
beast, as many think.
The bones of the animals are taken
to England and France and there used
in the refining of sugar.
The ladies of Palestine 20 out but
twice year, once to their fathers and
once to the city of the dead.
Glass has been taken from the tombs
of Egypt which was OF much finer
quality than the glass of to-day.
A little girl in Portland, Maine. Of
fered to bet her grandma ten cents
that Wad-el-Ward was a she man.
Pilgrims, in one procession to the
number of 100000, have been known
to visit Mecca for the purpose of wor-
shipping at its shrines.
No work is done on Saturday, not
even cooking or cOmbing the hair,
among the Jews, and to and from the
synagogue they must 60 with bare feet.
There are as high as 100000 Mo-
hammedans who 60 to Mecca during
the ceremonies, and it is one of the
greatest markets in the world. When
cholera starts, it is sure to come from
this place.
Land that twenty years ago would
have brought no more than q dollar
an acre in Palestine is now worth as
high as five thousand dollars per acre
and going higher.
The dead are buried on the day of
their death, and often when the body
is yet warm. No coffins are used, and
the eldest son does not attend the fu-
neral of his father.
The city of Mecca has population
of 5000. 1t is represented as an ex-
ceedingly filthy city and crimes are
common that throw the memory of
Sodom and Gomorrah in the shade.
Wad-el-Ward was detailed by his
government to attend Gen. Grants
party seven weeks at his own expense
or 60 to Jail. Notwithstanding this
the General secretly paid him SIS per
day and his expenses for the trip.
As needles did not come into use
until 1543, the passage in scripture re-
lating to the soul of the rich man is man.
ifestly mistake in translation. The
eye alluded to in the text doubtless
means the gateways in the archs OF
city wall, which were so small az to
cause the camels to kneel in effecting
passage through them.
Mohammedans drop everything for
prayer. No matter what business
they may be engaged in, when procla-
nation is made of the hour for their
devotions, they spread their garments
on the ground and kneel in prayer.
A fugitive, closely pursued even, will do
this, probably sustained by his faitl,
in predestination, and the belief that
he will not die before his time comes.
Wad-elWard attributes the longevity
of his people to the sailing" process
to which all infants are subjected. A,
birth they are immersed in strong
brine, until the skin is almost hayed
They are then powdered with fine salt
and rolled up in bandages of cloth
which remain in close contact several
days. This he claims eradicates all
germs of hereditary cutaneous disease
such as scrofula.
Many of the Jewish marriages take
place at the age of IA years, and the
mother chooses the wife for her son
There is no popping the question
in that land. If a man should de
such thing he would have his heat
popped off. When the mother finds .
daughter-in-law that suits her, the lad.
father must pay to the father of the